A $7.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense, allows researchers to accelerate the development of drugs and vaccines against alphaviruses, a group of about 30 different viruses that are mainly transmitted by mosquitoes.

The U.S. Department of Defense extended its secure software system contract with Carnegie Mellon University researchers for the the next five years, officials announced Tuesday.

“[The contract] endorses the fact that over the last 30-plus years, we have made some major contributions and major impact for the Department of Defense in the area of software engineering and cybersecurity,” said Robert Behler, deputy director and chief operation officer of CMU’s Software Engineering Institute.

Potential budget cuts to the Army National Guard have received opposition from 50 governors across the country, including Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett.

A letter signed by the governors asking President Obama to reconsider the cuts was delivered to the White House on Feb. 28. In the letter, Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin wrote that the cuts “suggest a pre-2001 strategic reserve construct,” which would take funding back to levels it was it before the September 11 attacks.

The University of Pittsburgh and UPMC are taking part in the second phase of a national project to improve battlefield medicine.

The Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) is a consortium of 30 academic centers led by the Wake Forest Institute for Generative Medicine and McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, a joint effort of Pitt and UPMC.

Over a five-year period, AFIRM will have $75 million from the Department of Defense and five years to research how to best heal skin burns, arm and hand wounds, and transplant faces and hands of those wounded.

It is well known that uncontrolled bleeding can cause multiple organ failure and death. It is also known that plasma reduces bleeding, so some are wondering if administering it early--while a patient is being transported to a hospital would lower mortality.

That thought has prompted The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and UPMC to organize a four-year multi-center study of whether administering plasma to trauma victims on emergency helicopters will improve outcomes and save lives.